Faeries & Elementals for Beginners: Learn About & Communicate With Nature Spirits (21 page)

hand during the meditation for its magical powers of sta-

bility and grounding. If you decide that you don’t like the feeling of falling asleep, and you want to return to your

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normal awake and energetic self, turn your attention to the rock you carry in your hand, and it will help to bring you back.

Begin your meditation in bed, of course. I like to lay

on the floor or even in a grassy field to connect even more closely with the earth, but this certainly isn’t necessary.

Whisper to the gnomes, asking them to aid your sleep and

to protect your body where it lies, the way they protect their most precious of treasures.

Close your eyes and turn your attention to your physi-

cal body where it connects with whatever surface is beneath you. Starting with the back of your head down to your neck and shoulders, relax and allow your muscles to feel heavy, so that it feels like you are melting downward. Become

aware of gravity pulling you against your resting place.

Continue moving your focus down your body toward your

toes. Your entire body should feel like it is heavier than it normally is when you have completed relaxing all of your

muscles.

Now, it is time for your visualization to begin. In your

mind’s eye, imagine that you look around the room or area

in which you lay and notice a hole in the ground that is the opening to the mouth of a large cave. You can jump into the cave entrance, or walk carefully down into it if you choose.

As you enter the large chamber of the cave, stop and allow yourself to take notice of your surroundings. This cave represents your mother earth, so you should find it to be comforting. When I perform this meditation, the cave feels very warm to me and the rocks are quite beautiful and smooth.

It is okay if your visualization differs.

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As your eyes adjust to the darkness, ask the gnomes to

allow you to proceed safely. Though gnomes don’t normally

like to approach humans, you may sense them backing

away and allowing you to proceed forward even if you don’t catch sight of them. Walk forward when you feel ready. As

you proceed downward, let yourself travel into the reaches of the cave. These tunnels become smaller and begin to

enclose you in the warm, dark womb of the earth. You may

find yourself stooping down and perhaps even going down

to your hands and knees to travel forward. Finally when

the confines of the smooth rock around you are too small

for you to continue your journey, let yourself rest comfortably in the darkness and quiet. Listen for the sounds of the gnomes working in the deep rock around you. You might

hear your heartbeat reverberating from the walls that sur-

round you, as if it were the beating heart of mother earth herself.

This meditation should allow you to drift off to a sleep

that is safe and healthy. When you wake up, you should

feel refreshed, and may have memory of dreams explor-

ing the realms of the gnomes underground. If you decide

to end your meditation early before you fall asleep, turn

your attention to the rock you hold in your hand, and you

should feel yourself swiftly withdrawing back into the waking world without having to retrace your steps groggily

through the cave. Since this meditation is so relaxing, you may wish to rest before getting up on your feet, and make

sure you feel grounded before moving again.

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Ritual for Home Blessing

People worry about moving into a house that is haunted,

or built upon an ancient sacred burial place. Well, every

home is built upon sacred ground, accurately enough. As

the gnomes are elementals of earth, they exist in every place on the earth. When we build homes or places to work and

live, we don’t displace the gnomes. Instead, we work along-side them. In order to have a happier, more stable home, we would do well to ask for the blessings of the gnomes that

lived there first.

As has been mentioned before, gnomes do not like to

be best buddies with people, but you can at the very least be good neighbors to them and ask for neighborly respect in

return. Imagine that you are buying a home. Ideally, you’d want a home in the sort of area that has good schools, low crime, and even a neighborhood watch. Luckily, gnomes

are everywhere, and if you get on their good side, they will refrain from causing you any nasty trouble. They may even

keep an eye out on your home to safeguard it from danger,

theft, or vandalism.

Casting a circle automatically blesses any place, so

re-read the circle casting instructions to make sure you

include each important aspect, from clearing negativity

from the space to blessing it with representatives of the

elements. Make sure that you sprinkle salt in water, as the representative of gnomes and the earth, in every room of

the home. When you get to the heart of your ritual, you

can introduce yourself by name to the gnomes that already

occupy the land on which your home was built. Humbly

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ask for them to treat your home as their own treasure, to

keep it and its occupants from harm. Offer to be a good

neighbor to them, and place an offering of food, drink, or bright and shiny stones outside your doorstep for them.

Here is a chant you can use to raise energy and request the blessings of the gnomes.

Gnomes, bless this home

From roof to floor

From all sides and door

Within and without

As the wide world turns about

Gnomes, bless this home.

Thank the gnomes profusely for their help and close

your magic circle. You may wish to place a penny in each

corner of your home to invite the wealth of the gnomes to

increase abundance of riches for you and your family. Now

you’ve introduced yourself to your gnome neighbors and

established a polite relationship so you can live harmoni-

ously in each other’s company.

Invocation for Purposes

Since earth is the element that represents all material, solid things, it might just be one of the most used elementals in ritual work. After all, most people want to increase their cash supply or gain other wonderful things in their lives.

Since the earth is also associated with stability, gnomes can also help with establishing anything that you want to have
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as a lasting foundation in your life. Though fire and water make frequent appearances in magical rituals, you’ll find

that there are many other props that fit into the category of the element of earth simply due to their solid manifestation on earth. Though undines are best suited for love rituals

with high emotion, gnomes are helpful with friendships

if you want to have, or already have, a best friend as a fix-ture in your life. This is in spite of the fact that the gnomes themselves are not particularly friendly to humans.

Exercise to Make Friends

As with the love drawing exercise that you found in the

section about undines, a friendship exercise should not

be aimed at a particular person. Otherwise, you may find

yourself forcing somebody to do something against his or

her will, which elementals don’t particularly like. A well meaning friendship exercise can lead to malicious mischief on the part of an elemental, leading your social life to blow up in a bad way. Instead, it is best to allow your qualities to draw friendship with the help of the gnomes. As with the

love exercise in the chapter on undines, if you find yourself thinking of a particular person, try listing the qualities that make him or her a good friend and then thinking about

what aspects of your character will need to shine in order to attract somebody with such qualities into your social circle.

For this exercise, you will make a friendship bracelet,

so you’ll need at least three colors of cotton embroidery

floss. Since green is associated with the element of earth, let one of those colors be green. You can choose the other two
Gnomes—Elementals of Earth • 175

colors to represent ideals that you think are important for friendship. Use what colors you think fits your purpose in your own mind, rather than what anyone else thinks each

color may represent. If you’re really stuck, here are some common color associations to get you started.

•
Red:
To attract a friend who is passionate and who may become more than a friend someday.

•
Orange:
To attract an energetic, happy, and positive friend.

•
Yellow:
To draw a study buddy, or a friend who is on the same wavelength as you, intellectually.

•
Green:
To attract a workout buddy, business partner, or a friend interested in growth.

•
Blue:
To draw an emotional friend that will share secrets and be deeply caring.

•
Purple:
To attract a friend interested in the spiritual world.

Cast your magic circle, face north, and ask the gnomes

for their assistance in your efforts to display friendly qualities to attract better friendships into your life. There are many traditional ways to weave friendship bracelets, and

you can use any of them in your work. If you have no idea

how to make a friendship bracelet and missed that child-

hood fad, a simple braid will do just fine. As you weave,

you can chant to raise energy toward your goal. Here is an example of a chant that you can use: “As I weave this cord
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from end to end, earth’s gnomes will help me find a friend.”

When you are done creating your bracelet, add the caveat,

“with harm to none and for the highest good of all, so mote it be”. When you are done, tie the bracelet to your own wrist or ankle with a knot that you will hopefully be able to untie when you make your friendship. When you are done with

your charm, you can bury it as an offering to the gnomes.

There are legends associated with giving friendship

bracelets, but since they are magic, remember that you’ll

want to ask your friend’s permission before giving him or

her an enchanted object. Traditionally, a friendship bracelet is tied onto a person by a friend and then the bracelet is worn until the strings wear out and it falls off naturally.

When I was a kid, they only lasted a summer. But as an

adult, I find I can wear a friendship bracelet for half a year before it wears out. A friendship bracelet made by a friend is not to be removed early, unless it is an emergency, or else it may negatively affect the friendship, or so the childhood myth goes. Indeed, if I had worked many hours to make a

bracelet for a childhood friend, I might be a little mad if he or she took it right off!

Close your magic circle and wear that bracelet until

it falls off. Don’t forget to thank the gnomes for helping you make a friend when you bury the bracelet afterward.

Don’t worry about removing a friendship bracelet that

you made for yourself. You can certainly stay friendly with yourself without having any negative magic associated

with its removal. Feel free to make additional bracelets as needed for more friends, or to attract friends with different characteristics. Don’t forget to make the effort in your
Gnomes—Elementals of Earth • 177

own life to go out and make friends, as well as to sever ties with any toxic friendships that may be blocking your social life. The gnomes are industrious elementals and they can’t abide laziness. They are less likely to help you if you don’t work hard toward your goals. Gnomes are slower moving,

however, than sylphs for example, so be patient for them to work their magic.

Ritual to Bring Stability to Your Life

Everyone has a time in life when it seems like nothing is

going well, and it feels worse when everything goes wrong

at once. The devastation of a failing relationship might be bearable, but when combined with the heartbreak of losing

a job and falling into ill health, one can feel spiritually lost.

The situation seems hopeless. Try to look at such moments

of your life as periods of flux. Changes, no matter how difficult, are temporary shifts to a new foundation. It would be nice to have stability and growth at the same time, but in reality, the disturbing transformation of growth in our lives generally happens in between the times of stability.

But once those big changes occur, you can achieve a new

balance and harmony. You can quickly heal and prepare for

the next big life change. This ritual is one to ask the gnomes to help you find the stable element of earth inside yourself, so you can seek inner stillness and exude peace.

For this ritual, you will need to plant a tree. Ideally,

you will keep one outdoors, although conceivably you

could perform this ritual with an indoor plant like a bonsai tree. Select a tiny sapling, seed, or fresh cutting to prepare
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for planting, rather than using any old tree in the yard or a plant you already have lying around the house. As with

most ritual props, it is best to procure a new item that has never been used for any other purpose before, so as to keep it clear from energies that may distract from the purpose of your ritual.

Gnomes, being of the earth, supply the life force energy

that flows through plants, and their essence can be found

within every tree. For this ritual, you will tell the gnomes your troubles, and ask them to lend you the same strength

and stability that helps a tiny sapling grow into a sturdy tree. Cast your magic circle with the tree inside. Place the tree in the northern quadrant of your circle and knock